SUBJECT CODE : ME8792

SUBJECT NAME : Power Plant Engineering

STAFF NAME : Prof.V.Tamil Selvi
Ms.P.Aileen Sonia Dhas
 UNIT- I
COAL BASED THERMAL POWER
PLANTS
Rankine cycle - improvisations, Layout of
modern coal power plant, Super Critical
Boilers, FBC Boilers, Turbines, Condensers,
Steam & Heat rate, Subsystems of thermal
power plants – Fuel and ash handling,
Draught system, Feed water treatment.
Binary Cycles and Cogeneration systems
 RANKINE CYCLE

• Rankine cycle is a thermodynamic cycle on which the

steam turbine works. The line diagram is shown in
fig.
Thermal Efficiency of Rankine Cycle
P-V Diagram
T-S Diagram
 Improvisations of Rankine Cycle

• Rankine cycle efficiency can be improved by

using the following three methods.

1. Reheating
2. Regeneration
3. Combined reheating and regeneration
 Reheat Rankine Cycle

• The efficiency of the simple Rankine cycle can

be improved by increasing the pressure and
temperature of steam entering into the
turbine and keeping the steam as dry as
possible at the end of turbine.
T-S Diagram
 Regenerative Rankine Cycle
• The Condensate coming out of the turbine is
heated with the help of steam in a reversible
manner. This type of heating is known as
regenerative heating.
Practical single stage regenerative
Rankine cycle
T-S Diagram
Reheat-Regenerative Cycle
T-S Diagram
 Layout of modern coal power plant
• A steam power plant converts the chemical energy of the
fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) into mechanical / electrical energy.

• Coal based thermal power plant are meant for base load
requirements.

• The following two purposes can be served by a steam power

plant.

– To produce electric power.

– To produce steam for industrial purposes besides
producing electric power.
• The layout of modern steam power plant comprises
of four main circuits namely

– Coal and ash circuit

– Air and gas circuit
– Feed water and steam flow circuit
– Cooling water circuit
Advantages
• They respond rapidly to the load variations without
difficulty.
• Can be located very conveniently near to load
centre.
• Transmission cost is reduced.
• Less space is required compared to hydel power
plants
• Cheaper in production and initial cost compared to
diesel power stations.
Disadvantages

• Maintenance and operating cost are high.

• Plant construction time is more.
• Very large quantity of water is required.
• Coal handling is a tedious process.
 BOILERS
• A boiler is a closed vessel in which the steam is
generated from water by applying heat.
• A boiler or steam generator is used where a
source of steam is needed.
• The boilers are mainly used in mobile steam
engines such as
– Steam locomotives
– Portable engines
– Steam powered road vehicles
– Industrial installations
– Power stations
 Types of Boilers
– Fire tube boiler
• If the hot gas is passed through tubes and the water is circulated
around tubes, it is called fire tube boiler.
• Examples: Cochran boiler and Locomotive boiler

– Water tube boiler

• If the water is circulated through a large number of tubes and the
hot gases pass around the tubes, it is called water tube boiler.
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox boiler

– Low pressure and High pressure boiler

• Low pressure boiler: Steam pressure range from 3.5 to 10 bar.
Example: Cochran boiler
• High pressure boiler: Steam pressure greater than 25 bar and
temperature of 500oC.
• Examples: Babcock and Wilcox boiler
 ONCE THROUGH BOILER

• In once through boiler if the water is fed to the boiler, it will

be fully converted into dry or superheated steam without
any water content present in it.

Advantages
• Easy control of steam temperature.
• Easy to adopt variable pressure operation.
• Starting and cooling down of the boilers is fast.
• It is smaller in size and weighs less.
 FLUIDIZED BED COMBUSTION BOILERS
(FBC BOILERS)
• When a gas is passed through a packed bed of finely
divided solid particles, it experiences a pressure
drop across the bed.

• When the velocity of the gas is increased further, at

a stage the particles get suspended in the gas
stream and the new packed bed becomes a
fluidized bed. Burning of a fuel in such as state is
known as fluidized bed combustion.
Advantages of FBC boilers

• Size is small hence capital costs are reduced.

• Responds rapidly to changes In load demand.
• Less pollution.
• Combustion temperature can be controlled
accurately.
 TYPES OF FBC
1. Bubbling Fluidized Bed Boilers (BFB)
2. Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers (CFB)
TURBINES
CONDENSERS
Functions of condenser
Elements of condenser
Classification of condenser
Surface condenser
Down flow surface condenser
Central flow surface condenser
Low level parallel flow
Low level counter flow
Parallel and counter flow
Ejector condenser
Evaporative condenser
 SUBSYSTEMS OF THERMAL POWER
PLANTS
a) Fuel and Ash Handling
b) Draught system
c) Feedwater treatment
d) Binary cycles and Cogeneration systems
 A)COAL HANDLING
 OUT PLANT HANDLING
 transport to Stations by sea/river, rail, road, ropeways, pipelines.
 IN PLANT HANDLING
– Coal Preparation
– Transfer of coal and related equipments
• Belt Conveyors
• Screw conveyors
• Bucket elevators
• Grab bucket conveyor

– Covered storage and required equpments

– Inplant handling of coal
– Coal weighig measures.
 ASH HANDLING
i. Mechanical Handling System
ii. Hydraulic Ash handling System
iii. Pneumatic Ash handling System
iv. Steam Jet System
 i.Mechanical handling System

• In this system, ash cooled by water seal falls

on the belt conveyor and is carried out
continuously to the bunker.
The ash is then removed to the dumping site
from the ash bunker with the help of trucks
ii)Hydraulic system
 iii.Pneumatic Ash Handling System

In this system , ash from the boiler furnace

outlet falls into crusher
The ash is then carried by high velocity air or
steam to the point of delivery
Air leaving the ash separator is passed through
filter to remove dust etc.,
so that the exhauster handles clean air which
will protect the blades of the exhauster.
iv) Steam Jet system
 c)DRAUGHT SYSTEM
• The purpose of draught is to supply required
quantity of air for combustion and remove the
burnt products from the system.
• Draught
Natural Draught
Artificial Draught
 Forced Draught
 Induced Draught

Balanced Draught-Forced draught+Induced

Draught
FORCED DRAUGHT
• Draught produced by chimney is due to the
temperature difference of hot gases in the
chimney and cold air outside the chimney.
Induced Draught
• In this blower is located near the base of
chimney instead of grate. The air is sucked in
the system by reducing the pressure throught
the system below atmospheric pressure.
BALANCED DRAUGHT
FEED WATER TREATMENT
Feed water
Binary cycle
• It is one type of combined cycles in which usually
two working fluids mercury and water are used to
improve the overall thermal efficiency of the
power plant.
• For getting best performance of vapour power
cycle, the working fluid should have the following
characteristics
» High enthalpy of vaporization
» High critical temperature with a low corresponding
saturation temperature.
» Freezing temperature should be below room temperature.
» High condenser temperature
• Low specific heat
• Chemically stable
• Good heat transfer characteristics
• The moisture should not appear during expansion